Sunday, January 27, 2008

Ce N'est Pas Des Vacances

Edited below: sock monkey hat source!

I'm not sure why I thought that chasing the hyper-toddler up and down the icy streets of Montreal was a better option than wrangling her at home, solo, while the husband was in this fair and freezing city on business, but I did.

I forget why, exactly.

I mean, is it really more interesting to holler WATCH OUT FOR THE BABY! in French, as she barrels toward francophone elderly, as opposed to shrieking it in English at anglophone elderly? Only marginally.

That said, the francophone elderly do give her candy. Although I think that's more about the sock-monkey hat that we bought here, than it is about any greater inherent generosity on the part of old Montrealers. And, end of the day, the random pieces of maple syrup candies (which don't exactly, you know, calm the child down or anything) don't quite balance out the exhaustion that comes from chasing - while near-on six months pregnant - the maple-syrup-jacked creature across sheets of ice and mounds of packed snow. I am, after all, not the one being offered the candy.

That said, though...

... there is the whole business about having club sandwiches (avec frites) and a trio of creme brulees delivered to your room, whenever you want.

And a bathtub the size of a swimming pool. With a viewing window. So that you can watch the SAG Awards dubbed into French while you wash bits of syrup candy out of the child's hair, or your husband can take pictures of you, whichever seems more amusing at the time.

And then there's that sock-monkey hat.

Maybe this a vacation, after all. Of a sort.

Edited to add... I purchased the sock monkey hat HERE. They have an online shop. Direct source can be found HERE. Note that they do MUPPET MITTENS, too. And for Canadians: Mr. Dress-up FINNEGAN mittens. No Casey, but still: AWESOME.

Here, winter is gray and sometimes cold and wet, nothing more. To experience a beautiful, somewhat foreign city with *real* winter, sounds fantastic. I LOVE the hat, and the smiles, and the bathtub, and the room service! Enjoy!

Ah, HBM. Seems like a vacation to me. Anytime I can pick up the phone and make food appear, there's a little hint of magic in the air, hmm?

And I think the person who deserves THE most attention in the world is a pregnant woman who already has children. Especially ones under the age of five. Period. Those are the people who should be offered candy, pampered, cooked for and catered to, attended. And I try to do that now that I've reached the matron phase, where those years are past.

She could be any more adorable -- and the hat makes it pure perfection. Please tell me you ate some pain au chocolat for me? Not that you know me. Or knew I wanted you to. But, oh, that's one thing I remember about Montreal... mmmm....

Having once been an American child residing in a foreign country (albeit a number of years ago)- candy from elderly “strangers” in other countries is not at all strange and not dangerous- and it would be bordering on rude to decline unless you could explain a good reason. The parents should at least accept it on behalf of the child with much thanks.

And from a shopkeeper? As safe as from Grandma. You did the right thing- trusting your instincts!